A Quick Whirl Around The Fracking World: 30 Oct 2014

*US. Fracking has resulted in the “highest level in at least three decades” of US crude oil production, with 379.7 million barrels of oil now stored. An industry spokesperson, however, said, while they’re “still optimistic about shale growth”, 2014 is likely to be a peak year.

*US.“The Great Invisible”, a film documentary, records the impacts of BP’s blowout on regular folks along the Gulf. BP did provide compensation to 100,000+ residents, “but hundreds of thousands of others were refused any compensation.”

*US.BP and Chevron have struck oil “at a key exploration site in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico. This is BP’s second major discovery in the deepwater Gulf since the 2010 oil spill.”

*AR/CO/PA/OH/WY. According to a University of Albany-State University of New York study, 8 “poisonous chemicals were found near wells and fracking sites” in AR, CO, PA, OH and WY at levels that far exceeded recommended federal limits.” Gases included benzene and hydrogen sulfide. One site’s benzene levels were “Five orders of magnitude over federal limits”.

*AK. Fellow followed a bull moose walking across his property, only to discover “the deepening piles of ashy cement powder coating the trees and running off into a gravel pit”. Workers from fracking company Baker Hughes had dumped what remained of cement mixtures into the woods, reportedly including “a foul-smelling, oily liquid”.

*CA. “Drill now, deal with the consequences later”—that has led one man, a former military and aerospace engineer, to run for the Monterey County Board of Supervisors. Pivotal time, since frackers are trying to get permits from the US Bureau of Land Management to exploit the San Ardo Oil Field, which lies underneath much of “America’s Salad Bowl”.

*MT.“Tribal chiefs and leaders” of the Blackfoot Confederacy (one tribe from Montana, three from Canada) issued a “joint proclamation insisting that the U.S. Department of Interior cancel . . . illegal oil and gas leases in the Badger-Two Medicine area”. They also want Interior to “vigorously defend” against a developer’s lawsuit and to establish, with the Blackfeet Nation, protections for Badger-Two Medicine. (Just three paragraphs down for Badger-Two Medicine info.)

*ND. A measure on the November ballot would “divert 5% of future oil revenue to fund clean-water projects, wildlife preservation and parks.” Backed by conservationists and hunters, it’s opposed by the “agriculture industry, oil producers, education groups, builders and business organizations.”

*SD.Keystone XL pipeline opponents in Nebraska will be given “intervenor status” before the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission—but “All evidence and testimony must pertain to the project in South Dakota only”. TransCanada, Keystone XL’s builder, objected, but lost. Many fear contamination of the Ogallala Aquifer which underlies eight states (see map).

*TX.Denton has become a major hot spot with a fracking ban on the ballot. It’s atop the Barnett Shale, and “money has been pouring into Denton from oil and gas companies anxious to stop [the ban] before it spreads to other towns.”

*TX. Another grassroots effort, this one in Mansfield, to restrict fracking by “enhanced regulation at fracking sites within city limits”, such as imposing a limit of 1500 feet from homes or schools, rather than the 600 feet currently in the city ordinance.

*TX.Superior Crude Gathering will be paying $1.6 million for “at least 2,200 barrels from two tanks at its facility” that spilled in Ingleside in 2010. That’s a civil penalty; the payment will become part of the federal Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund.

A Quick Whirl Around The Fracking World: 30 Oct 2014

*US. Fracking has resulted in the “highest level in at least three decades” of US crude oil production, with 379.7 million barrels of oil now stored. An industry spokesperson, however, said, while they’re “still optimistic about shale growth”, 2014 is likely to be a peak year.

*US.“The Great Invisible”, a film documentary, records the impacts of BP’s blowout on regular folks along the Gulf. BP did provide compensation to 100,000+ residents, “but hundreds of thousands of others were refused any compensation.”

*US.BP and Chevron have struck oil “at a key exploration site in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico. This is BP’s second major discovery in the deepwater Gulf since the 2010 oil spill.”

*AR/CO/PA/OH/WY. According to a University of Albany-State University of New York study, 8 “poisonous chemicals were found near wells and fracking sites” in AR, CO, PA, OH and WY at levels that far exceeded recommended federal limits.” Gases included benzene and hydrogen sulfide. One site’s benzene levels were “Five orders of magnitude over federal limits”.

*AK. Fellow followed a bull moose walking across his property, only to discover “the deepening piles of ashy cement powder coating the trees and running off into a gravel pit”. Workers from fracking company Baker Hughes had dumped what remained of cement mixtures into the woods, reportedly including “a foul-smelling, oily liquid”.

*CA. “Drill now, deal with the consequences later”—that has led one man, a former military and aerospace engineer, to run for the Monterey County Board of Supervisors. Pivotal time, since frackers are trying to get permits from the US Bureau of Land Management to exploit the San Ardo Oil Field, which lies underneath much of “America’s Salad Bowl”.

*MT.“Tribal chiefs and leaders” of the Blackfoot Confederacy (one tribe from Montana, three from Canada) issued a “joint proclamation insisting that the U.S. Department of Interior cancel . . . illegal oil and gas leases in the Badger-Two Medicine area”. They also want Interior to “vigorously defend” against a developer’s lawsuit and to establish, with the Blackfeet Nation, protections for Badger-Two Medicine. (Just three paragraphs down for Badger-Two Medicine info.)

*ND. A measure on the November ballot would “divert 5% of future oil revenue to fund clean-water projects, wildlife preservation and parks.” Backed by conservationists and hunters, it’s opposed by the “agriculture industry, oil producers, education groups, builders and business organizations.”

*SD.Keystone XL pipeline opponents in Nebraska will be given “intervenor status” before the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission—but “All evidence and testimony must pertain to the project in South Dakota only”. TransCanada, Keystone XL’s builder, objected, but lost. Many fear contamination of the Ogallala Aquifer which underlies eight states (see map).

*TX.Denton has become a major hot spot with a fracking ban on the ballot. It’s atop the Barnett Shale, and “money has been pouring into Denton from oil and gas companies anxious to stop [the ban] before it spreads to other towns.”

*TX. Another grassroots effort, this one in Mansfield, to restrict fracking by “enhanced regulation at fracking sites within city limits”, such as imposing a limit of 1500 feet from homes or schools, rather than the 600 feet currently in the city ordinance.

*TX.Superior Crude Gathering will be paying $1.6 million for “at least 2,200 barrels from two tanks at its facility” that spilled in Ingleside in 2010. That’s a civil penalty; the payment will become part of the federal Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund. (more…)